Pal_Judit_Az_onkormanyzat_ara

The study examines Act 42 of 1870, the first comprehensive regulation of public administration after the Austro-Hungarian Compromise (1867), especially the reasons why the Hungarian government chose to retain the state financing of in the provisions of the new act. Since it significantly extended their authority, the lord-lieutenants had an important role in implementing the Act. The study analyses the arguments of the counties and lord-lieutenants on the issue, as well as the capacity of law enforcement authorities and the consequent feasibility of the implementation of the law. The Ministry of Finance was going to allocate 7.76 % of all direct taxes for the counties’ administrative costs. On average, for the authorities of Hungary, narrowly defined, this meant covering 90.2% of the costs allocated by the government in 1870, while nearly half of the counties there were able to cover at least 80 % of the costs. In Transylvania this figure was only 53.6%, and there were wide differences between law enforcement authorities across the country. As compared to half of the Hungarian authorities’ capacity to cover at least 80% of their administrative costs from the allocated portion of direct taxes, neither the Transylvanian counties nor the northern and north-eastern counties of Hungary were in the position to do so. This discrepancy rendered the pre-1848 system untenable. Since even the implementation of a territorial-administrative reform could not have solved the problem, the government decided to finance the costs of local administration, first temporarily and then permanently, from 1883. The consensus behind the decision—both on the county level and in the parliament, including the opposition parties—indicates that the decision was initially not borne out of power play. As administrative costs rose steadily and governments leaned toward a more centralised administration, they no longer sought to change what was intended to be a temporary solution.